A NEW  J ANUARY 2018 Interview with One of a Series of Bridge Encounters by Samantha Punch

2001 Teams combination of both, I think. Plus, it never really repeats itself. You play Tic,Tac,Toe it’s the same thing over and over again. Bridge is at the com- 2001 Trophy plete other end of the spectrum from my perspective. 2003 European Mixed Bridge Championships What was it that hooked you in? 2003 Master Knockout Teams I have always found games interesting and challenging. I studied a lot of 2005 Cavendish Invitational Teams mathematics when I was young and I suppose the analytical element appeals 2005 Open -a-Match Teams to me in this and many other games. I just found this to be more appeal- 2006 Open Swiss Teams ing. !ere is a drawback in some sense that you are required to play with a 2006 Warren Buett Cup partner or in a team so you don’t always get to freely implement all of your ideas although you usually have to. 2007 ACBL Championship So do you mean that sometimes, because of your partner or team mate you can’t 2007 Vanderbilt National Knockout Teams really do what you would do if it was just up to you? 2013 European Open Pairs Championships I think the best example is the stylistic view. I tend to try to do whatever 2013 Vanderbilt National Knockout Teams I think is the best percentage action most of the t ime. Of course, that’s 2014 Jacoby Open Swiss not always the most sensible decision at that point in time. I mean, if you 2014 World Mixed Team Championships, Sanya are ahead 50 with a few boards to go, then it might not make that much 2016 Moscow Invitational Slava Cup sense to make a very aggressive pre-empt, even if it is, in isolation, the best percentage action. But, I guess, more so if you’re playing in a team, if you 2016 South American Bridge Championships come back with unusual results, which I do, they start to wonder – gee what 2016 Spingold Master Knockout Teams happened on that board? So, I guess it’s because I go about bridge a little 2016 Open Pairs Championships bit dierently from a lot of people, so I am perfectly willing to take risks and assume that if I’m right two-thirds of the time, then that’s fantastic. Just to get us started, why do you play bridge? Of course, it also means that you have a result that nobody else has about OK, well I used to play a lot of dierent games and I found it to be the a third of the time for whatever reason. most challenging. Some games like Chess are a little bit more scienti€c in An example you gave there is the aggressive pre-empt – would you still take that terms of de€nitively determining a course of action in some instances, but action? bridge really has a unique combination of mathematical analysis combined Well, you shouldn’t in some situations, and in some situations you should. with a sort of a psychological element, or an element of the unknown. So I don’t let my team mates or the opinions of other people prevent me from you really have to use probability more than science. doing what I think is correct generally speaking. Not that probability isn’t a science in itself, but there’s no certainty. So most games have too much chance or too much skill. Bridge is a perfect Would you still do that if you were something like 50 up? Page 70 A NEW BRIDGE MAGAZINE  J ANUARY 2018

Well then I think you should take that risk, I intentionally didn’t do that is quite unusual. on the last day in Croatia and the results were bad. Because we probably It is unusual, yes. !at’s been mentioned. Some people are adopting some didn’t need many Victory Points in the €nal day to qualify for the top six, parts of the system, for example, a lot of people have started to play trans- which is one of the primary objectives really. But we thought, if we just fer responses to a one club opener and that whole style has a lot of bene€ts get a few under our belt in the €rst match it would be nice and then we and I think most people who don’t play it don’t realise what they are miss- could do whatever we want to try to win a medal. But that strategy didn’t ing. Like the ability to let either hand decide that they don’t want to be the work very well for us. I guess it’s just not our style at least for me, it’s to Declarer or the Dummy depending on the make-up of their cards. !ere play aggressively. are a lot of advantages like that. !" "#. "# How did that feel, going into that day 1 and coming out 6 Obviously 6 was When you say you’re creating uncertainty for your opponents, is that because of !" %& still great as you quali$ed, but how did that – going from 1 to 3 and then to your unusual methods or is it because of your style of play? 6"# – feel? !ere are some conventions that are intentionally designed to cause con- !at happens all the time in Swiss Teams. When you are in anything that’s fusion, like the multi for example. We don’t play m ulti, but there were run in a Swiss format, often you are playing the leaders in the last round, if many hands in Croatia where the strangest things happened as a result of you lose a couple of matches you are obviously going to drop several places. somebody opening a Multi and both sides attempting to play in the same We lost all three of our last matches, some of them quite badly and so, it’s major – both sides. I mean it looked so stupid! always disappointing but it’s something you get used to if you are a games player. If you play bridge all the time and it’s a knockout match every match But how do you feel if some people are a bit critical of playing unusual methods? has a loser. So you have to get used to that. I think it’s fair to say here in the US, some people are particularly anti playing something so di(erent that your opponents don’t know what is going on and But how do you get used to that? they don’t necessarily think it’s fair? By going through it enough times. I mean, in that speci€c example, I had Well, there are a lot of methods that are permitted so some of the methods played in the US Trials for many, many, many years hoping to earn a place that we play, I mean, we pre-empt a lot, so that causes problems for your in the and never did. opponents. I am a big believer in the more space of your opponents you I think you said in an interview in Croatia that you are quite famous for your take up, the better o you are. You take away a lot of their options and a lot come-backs. How do you manage to come back? of their science. So we do have some conventions that we play, but we are Well, it’s the same style of playing that we have that it’s very easy for us to only permitted to play them as a defence to an unusual convention, Preci- not replicate the result of the other table. So the bidding is almost guaran- sion or something like that. So you don’t get to do that stu all the time. teed to be dierent and we also have a very aggressive style, so sometimes Technically it’s a defence, just as a convention over a No is consid- we have team mates and they say well our opponents played really well. ered a defence to their 1NT opening. So those people who don’t wish to !at almost never happens to us. !at’s not to say that we don’t make mis- play against methods like that, all they have to do is play more standard takes or get caught speeding or we are more prone to accidents than some methods themselves then they won’t encounter them. !ey’ll still encounter pairs as a result of this style, but it’s also true that our opponents make a lot aggressive pre-empting, but to me that’s all a part of bridge. I think you’re more mistakes than they normally do because uncertainty is created dur- giving money away when you don’t pre-empt when you could have. ing the auction. You said at the beginning that you recognise that you play a bit di(erently from I’m afraid I don’t actually have a feel for your system but I have heard that it other players. How did that come about? Page 71 A NEW BRIDGE MAGAZINE  J ANUARY 2018

Well, because I think it’s an eective style, I don’t like to give my oppo- than those who think that they understand and just play. !ere are a lot of nents a free run in the bidding without any interference, so I pretty bridge players today that play the same system they played that they learned aggressively. !at’s a lot of the style. Also when we are having a constructive 30 years ago. When it’s their turn to lead if they have a Queen and a Jack in auction, we try to make sure that they know as little as possible about the the same suit they lead the Queen of that suit. So I don’t do that. I think, Declarer’s hand. When we are bidding in an uncontested auction, one hand well what suit should be led? It doesn’t matter what I have in my hand. I is describing itself to who is usually the Declarer and the Declarer doesn’t say don’t just lead the Ace King because I have it. I decide which suit will be the anything about their hand. So I am a big believer in that because it makes most eective lead and then, if I have a dilemma with respect to say the Ace defence much more di#cult. So, a lot of our systemis geared towards inten- King of clubs, sometimes you do that and sometimes you don’t ‘cos you’re tionally not disclosing information about our hand that might be valuable giving away information. So the people who continually try to evolve their to our opponents when we think it’s our hand, and when it’s their hand to bridge game or continue to learn will have a much better chance of being a try to interrupt their bidding best way we can. great player some day. And then, if you add to that obviously you need some And you don’t really mind when it goes wrong – is that correct? talent – I’d like to say that people have a talent for bridge, but sometimes people have a talent for analytical things. Doing things that are analytical Well, you never want it to go wrong, but it’s just part of the game, it’s risk and skills of evaluation, both of those are very important for bridge. and reward. !at’s what some people don’t like about bridge. !ey don’t So if you have those elements combined with the desire to improve and like being at the other end of a coin toss, which they perceive. I don’t think educate yourself, if you want to phrase it that way, then I think the most it’s a coin toss, I think I’m going to win 60% or whatever the percentage important factor is the ability to focus and concentration. Because you see is. !at’s the way I view it, as an action that’s more likely to win than lose that all the time. Some players who are just real wizards, but don’t necessar- and, yes, it’s random. But it’s probably less random for us than it is for our ily do the best with their abilities as a result of that, and then there are some opponents. players who work really hard at the table and have to work amazingly hard Do your opponents or team mates ever get cross? because they don’t play that much or they don’t really have a real natural Sure, of course they do. sense. I’ve played a lot of card games so I’m not saying, I think I’m above How do you cope with that? average and I could play without thinking and be OK, not that, of course I would make a lot of mistakes but I would just play a diamond and often it’s I mean, we haven’t had any trouble with any team mates for a long time. right. And there’s some players who don’t really have any of that and they Of course you just know that your team mates are going what the Hell, was have to work really hard, and those that work really hard can still achieve a it a bidding misunderstanding when you’re minus 600. Like we did in one super high level of success. So, I think concentration has got to be right at of those matches. One of the unfortunate aspects of playing an extremely the top of the most important. complex system is that sometimes there is an uncertainty in the auction. We have discussed and discussed out system and we have a lot of agreements, Is that something you have to work at, concentration? but that’s the beauty of bridge, something comes al ong that you haven’t Yeah. Focus I’m good at. Focus and concentration I don’t necessarily think discussed and that’s one of the things we try to do to our opponents, make of as exactly the same. sure we introduce them to a situation that they haven’t discussed. Can you explain what you mean by that? What would you say are the key qualities of a top player? When I say focus, OK, maybe I’m using the wrong word, maybe I should Initially I think it’s the same as almost every single thing in life which is have used ambition instead of focus. I have always been very ambitious and that those who desire to learn and improve will always garner better results have had a very strong desire to win and have no trouble focussing myself Page 72 A NEW BRIDGE MAGAZINE  J ANUARY 2018

on trying to give myself the best chance, but I am prone to a lapse in con- and then they tried to translate that into words. So that happens in a lot of centration during the play. Sometimes I play too quickly, or call a card from media, I think, where sometimes you have a perfectly good evaluation of the Dummy that I shouldn’t. So that’s a weak spot for me. One of my old something and then if you try to over analyse it doesn’t necessarily do it. partners said that there are a few dozen players who just really seem to have )at relates to playing a hand, for example? a natural talent for bridge, and then there are also many players who are extremely studious and cautious. !ere are only a couple that are both and Well, sometimes, let’s say you’re trying to €nd the queen of trumps. It could those are two of the best players in the world – Zia is an extremely talented be that your brain has noticed that your right hand opponent was €dgety a little bit or trying to behave normally and you didn’t really consciously and slow and careful player; Bob Levin is another, an unbelievably natural recognise that, but you might feel like he’s got the Queen over there, and player who really takes his time. It shows in their phenomenal results over their careers so far. So I’d like to be more like them. I’ve always thought of even though you couldn’t count the hand, you’d go, he’s quite likely to have myself as a fairly talented card player, but if I could just improve my con- three and you can talk yourself out of making the play that you would have otherwise made. So I don’t like to do that to myself. centration, take my time, I would do better. So you stick with the $rst … And do you know how to do that? I think I have been progressing. I’ve read recently a book called “Blink”. If I have an instinct to make one play, I usually do that, unless I have a really I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. It was wri tten by Malcolm Glad- €rm analysis of why it’s wrong. After reading that book I’m more likely to do it than I was beforehand. well who is also more known for a book called “Outliers”, but “Blink” was a very interesting book. I’ve always felt like, OK, it’s true, if I take a long Where does bridge $t in your life? time at Trick 1 I’m more likely to come up with a better line of play and Right now? It’s always been a dream of mine to play more bridge, so I used my opponents will be more likely to come up with a better defence. So it is to play in most of the US Nationals and a couple of International events a trade-o. I have always thought that my playing quickly often my oppo- and I was working fulltime for a lot of the time. I always hoped to be able nents make more mistakes than I do than they would have otherwise. I to travel a bit more and play a little bit more bridge and so, in that respect, might lose a little bit in my play, but I think that my opponents would lose I am ful€lling a dream of mine to play more often and with people from more than I do in sometimes playing too quickly. So, there is a trade-o, so dierent parts of the world and at a higher level. I can rationalise my own shortcomings in that manner if I so choose. But So if you had your time all over again, would you want to be a bridge pro from the book “Blink” was very interesting and it’s exactly something I always a young age? sort of felt was true, the point basically that it makes is cognitive analysis doesn’t necessarily improve evaluation of something. Often your brain has No. I wouldn’t want to be a professional. I think it spoils the game a little already, perhaps subconsciously, analysed something accurately. One of the bit. I think I have more fun playing bridge than any bridge professional. best examples they gave is if you’ve witnessed a crime and you are asked to Often as a professional you’re playing for a team sponsor or partnering a point out the criminal in a line-up, people, with a great degree of accuracy, team sponsor and it’s hard to compare the enjoyment of that. I mean, there are able to do that, but if before doing that, they are asked to describe the are a lot of pairs who get to play with their regular partner and there are perpetrator, that pollutes their vision. If they have to try to translate a vision several sponsors that are quite good players and very successful, so I don’t of what is in their brain €rst into words, then when they go to try to pick mean this as a knock on them, but we play with whom ever we want to the person out of a line-up they are less likely to because their thought pro- play with. We play with people that we like, and where we think we have cess has been perverted in essence. So what they started with was the vision a good chance to win and that’s a luxury that not many professionals have.

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What was your goal at that time? play bridge. Maybe they can have another job and they are electing to do I wanted to play in the Bermuda Bowl. I wanted to win a World Champion- this but that’s not the case with many people. I am sure a lot of them enjoy ship. We did win all three of the US Nationals andwe played internationally it a great deal, but if you have to play 330 days a year I think it takes a lot of in the World Championships in Istanbul in 2004 and lost in…that was a the enjoyment out of it. For the people who really are full-time bridge pro- tough match. fessionals, if you ask them, “Hey, you want to play a few hands of bridge?” they’re like, “Are you kidding?” !ey’re not really looking forward to doing What is the preferred term for a sponsor, are there any negative connotations – I’ve that in their spare time. heard lots of terms? Can you describe the procession of the transition in you from going from being Most people use the word “sponsor”, some people say “client”. I don’t know, a sponsor to not being a sponsor? some people consider some of those negative connotations and some people don’t. I’ll tell you a story. I worked in a pool hall when I was a kid and it was I think it’s really di#cult. warned me about this before we ever a very, I’m not going to say fancy in that it was elegant, but there were some played our €rst event. He said, once you sponsor a team you are forever a of the world’s best players there and they would sit around and wait for a bridge sponsor and I said I didn’t care. I don’t really care about other peo- ‘sucker’ to come in and they would win most of their money from suckers. ple’s perception. I mean, I do to some extent, but not about things like that. So I saw this one guy. He came in about every three months. Very nicely I don’t care if people think I’m a bridge sponsor. But it was a goal for me to dressed, sometimes with a date. He would play for two or three hours and earn the bridge community’s respect as a real bridge player and I think my lose a bunch of money, and then he would go o for a dinner reservation successes have done enough to do that at least. at 8 o’clock and I kept wondering, who is the real sucker? !is guy comes But you can choose whether to sponsor or not? in, he knows he’s gonna lose, he enjoys playing pool with some of the best Yeah, but I don’t want to do that. I don’t really have any interest in spon- players in the world and a couple of hours go by, he’s had a nice time and soring a bridge team. Because, €rstly, it’s really annoying – I want to be a now he goes on with his life. So he is really just spending some money. member of the community, I don’t want to be a spons or. I want to be a !ey called him a sucker and I’m thinking they have it backwards. !ey’re world class bridge player, playing – I don’t want to be playing as a sponsor. I standing in a pool hall every day of their whole life waiting for that guy to always thought when I €rst started sponsorship who wouldn’t, let’s say you come in and hoping he comes in and he is having a great life. !ey have really loved tennis, and they said you could go play Wimbledon with John a crappy life. So to me in that respect the sponsor is the person you want McEnroe in the doubles and actually play in Wimbledon and maybe get to to be. !at’s the person with the better life. A bridge professional – I don’t the €nals. If you really loved tennis and you could aord it, who wouldn’t want to say anything bad about being a bridge professional, but they are do that? Everybody would probably do that. So why is bridge any dier- waiting for a sponsor sometimes although some are good enough so that ent? In bridge, it’s even easier – practically speaking, you couldn’t probably people are beating down their doors, but to me being a sponsor is a luxury, play with John McEnroe in the €nals of the doubles, but in bridge you can if you can aord it it’s €ne. I don’t think it has to have a negative associa- actually do that. You don’t even have to necessarily be a great player. tion with anything. Do you mind, though, that inevitably some people still perceive you as a sponsor? Can you explain a bit more about that conviction, w hy you think a sponsor If they don’t want to see things, what do I care? I mean, the facts are the has a better life. facts, but I’ve had an extremely good record with several dierent partners I mean €nancially they have a better life which gives them $exibility. !ey with several dierent teams, and a record that is di#cult for even the best play bridge, or don’t play bridge, a bridge professional pretty much has to players to match. I won the Player of the Year Award in 2007. I played with

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€ve dierent partners. !e list of winners is Meckstroth, Zia, people like that read something recently that could explain a little bit. One of my favourite almost every year. And I played with somebody I had never played with in books called “!e Brain Rules” and the author, I didn’t read it, I listen to the €rst pair event and won that. I played in the Vanderbilt on a team with audio books a lot, who was reading the book said that he had this young my wife at the time and we won, so I played most of the year basically ahead son, and his son was playing with some other kids, and one boy said, “I of the professionals. Crystal was on the Vanderbilt Team and the Spingold can throw this ball up to the ceiling.” Another one says, “Oh, I can throw Team, she didn’t play in the Reisinger, but we were playing on a team all it higher.” And then, he goes I can throw it up to the moon and they get year. And I played in pairs events with four or €ve dierent partners. competitive. And he said they were analysing the behaviour of girls of the Why do you personally think that men, on paper, are better (statistically win same age. One girl says, “Hey, look, I can throw this ball up to the ceiling.” more) than women? And the response was, “Oh, I can too.” A pretty big dierence. So I don’t know if that’s instinct or, whatever it is, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibil- I think it will evolve, but I think it probably begins from a social level. My ity that, as a result of the evolution of man, that there are more competitive belief has always been that bridge is something that you have to dedicate a instincts in a male than a female, left over from the days of when they had lot of time to and when I decided to take up bridge that’s all I did. I spent to go hunting, or something. I don’t know. I don’t really want to talk too all day long at the bridge club. much about this topic because I don’t really know anything about it. In 1985, it wouldn’t really be socially acceptable for a female to just hang out at a card haunt all day and all night or to play cards all night. !at’s not How do you cope when it’s not going quite so well? Do you never get cross with to say it doesn’t ever happen, just that the pool of people from which you each other? can choose the next great bridge player is a lot more likely to be, if it’s going I think probably it’s easier because I worked for a long time as a trader on to be found in a roomful of people that play cards all day and night, there the $oor at the Stock Exchange and that’s an industry where it’s really just just aren’t any women there. It has never really been socially acceptable. If like I’ve described my bridge game. If I made money 55% of the time that someone’s say Oh, what were you doing last night – I was playing cards all was fantastic. But that must mean you lose 45% of the time so almost half night – it’s not the female thing to do. I don’t know if it’s a social reason or of your life you were losing money and it’s just part of the game. You have a desire reason. !ere are probably some other reasons. I don’t know what to look at it that way. Otherwise you’d just be pulling your hair out every they are. It’s true in Chess also, there could be similar reasons, honestly I other day, so in bridge it’s the same way. Nobody wins every time they make don’t know. You should ask Sabine. She has some thoughts about it. a bid – sometimes you’re gonna play badly, sometimes you’re gonna lose and Do you think bridge is a sexist game? it’s part of the game. If you don’t accept that you probably shouldn’t play. !e sexist viewpoint about the ability of players unfortunately, currently, it So how did you decide to play for Germany and how did you feel about it? is mostly true. I think that the whole world of bridge creates a big disser- In some ways it was very easy, in some ways it was di#cult. It was an easy vice by actually having women’s events because I think if they didn’t have decision to make because I had never had so much fun playing bridge as them they would be forced to compete and the result would probably be playing with Sabine. We had a great system, we both loved playing and we that women could compete equally with men. I haven’t really dwelled on it have fun before, after and during bridge. We go to dinner, we have drinks that much. It’s an unfortunate topic to discuss because it can probably be afterwards, go running in the morning and I didn’t want to play with some- perceived as demeaning to some extent to women, more insulting. body else in some other events because, to me, bridge at the highest level It’s unfortunate that the question is ever posed – why is it that women partnership is absolutely essential. Sometimes you can get away with not aren’t able to compete at bridge? To those who think that all brains are cre- having it, but if you’re gonna expect to compete on a regular basis you have ated equal, I am one of those people. I mean, they are dierent, but I did to have a good partnership and bridge globally is ustj getting more and more Page 75 A NEW BRIDGE MAGAZINE  J ANUARY 2018

di#cult every year. Look at the European Championships. I used to think, third year – I had a bye in it somewhere. It’s a lot of bridge and by the end Oh, all you have to do is come in the top six over there, so easy, and now you might feel sharp, but even if you’re €t and healthy, but when I analyse I’m over there – I’m like, what? Look at those teams! Look at the teams that I thought I was playing really well, but when I subsequently analysed my didn’t make it. France was a really strong team that didn’t qualify and Nor- play it was $opping because of fatigue, because playing every board for 11 way. Some other really strong teams took part. days is a lot, 60 boards a day for 11 days. I’ve had a problem for a long time with the rules in the United States So the rules make it really di#cult. My chances of being the US repre- Team Trials. You are granted a very large advantage based upon your play sentative were extremely small. Firstly, I couldn’t play with Sabine, so I tried during the course of the year in the three Nationals and the previous year’s to do it every year, but then when Sabine and I sta rted playing together Trials, but only if your team contains at least four American players . So, for then what was I going to do? If I played with Sabine in the US Nationals I example, in one year I lost in the round of 8 in the Spingold and won the would play in the round robin in a non-partnership. So what would be my Vanderbilt and came second in the Reisinger but I would have had to play chances of winning the US Trials? Close to zero. in the round robin. Are there any di(erences that you see between playing in Europe and playing Because you have team mates from elsewhere you mean? in the US? Yeah, yeah. Originally the concept was they didn’twant to have some sponsor Yes. Much nicer to play in Europe. who wasn’t that good getting a bye into the semi-€nals that he didn’t really Why is that? deserve or earn. But that wasn’t what was happening here. I didn’t expect anybody to make special rules for me but it’s a signi€cant handicap to have Well these bridge professionals, not all of them, but some of them make to play in a round robin, whereas if somebody else had those results they the game a lot less pleasant. Sometimes it’s intentional and sometimes it’s competitive or whatever but it’s unfortunate. It’s so much more pleasant would have started in the semi-€nals so they would play the worst team €rst and then allow the other teams to battle, so they’d probably have a 35% or playing there. We have had not one minute that was not pleasant bridge 40% chance of being the Nation’s representative, whereas my chances were over there the whole time. probably 5-7% starting in the round robin because y ou have the round And when you said intentional? robin and then you have a round of 16, a round of 8, a round of 4, so they !ere are pairs who try to make their opponents uncomfortable. It’s a very probably have 8 times my likelihood of earning a place. speci€c objective to make their opponents uncomfortable at the table. So Couldn’t you then have picked team mates on that basis to have played with so they are rude and curse and stu like that, and do a lot of things just to that you could have got a bye to the semi-$nals. throw you o balance. It’s intentional. Wilful and intentional. It’s di#cult to do that. !e best American players are paid a lot of money, If someone’s dishing that out how do you cope with that to make sure it doesn’t so for example, Meckstroth and Rodwell and Weinstei n and Levin both throw you o( balance? play for Nickell and they are very well paid and that’s the reason. I mean, I know what they are – I just think of them as assholes when they’re doing you could get another really good pair, or you could get a team that’s really that. I mean they probably get a great deal of succ ess because of it. And good, the Monaco team for example, or even a team that’s really good for there’s also a lot more what I would call borderlin e unethical play here, a lot less money, but you wouldn’t get that placing in the Trials. So I lost where there is a little hesitation, just enough so would you go with it, was to Nickell almost every year, but many times after playing six days longer he thinking about winning the Ace when they don’t have it… than they did. I lost three years in a row in the Finals. I played 11 days the Is there anything that is tangible that is more so here than in Europe? €rst year, 10 days the second year and I don’t remember how many days the Page 76 A NEW BRIDGE MAGAZINE  J ANUARY 2018

I see that very rarely in Europe. I don’t see very much of that at all. Why – have you any idea why? I guess there’s a greater incentive to produce good results here, because it’s your occupation – you have to. So if you have to win, if you have to cheat to win you’ll cheat to win. I’m not saying everybody but some people will and some people have … So I guess that is a downside to professional bridge. De€nitely. And are there any other downsides? Well the upside is it has elevated the game. I don’t think bridge would be this strong without professionalism in bridge so that is a really big plus – look at how strong the American Nationals have become because there are sponsors hiring all of these best players in the world to come over and play in it. It’s a real pleasure to play in these events. It’s something special, it’s like whatever sport you compare it to, you are playing with all of the best play- Roy Welland ers from all around the world. I think it is just the greatest thing, so that is a huge plus. !e minuses – I don’t know – other than it perverts the game a little bit. I mean, there are some issues of randomness which is unfortu- nate. With randomness, not in the knock-outs, but in the Reisinger or in the Swiss Teams, if you play, say for example a team with a weak sponsor in NEW FROM the afternoon when the sponsor is playing, that’s a big advantage. So that MASTER P OINT P RESS the bridge publisher you have that kind of eect where you’re just really unlucky if you have to play a really strong four-handed team, and somebody else plays the sponsor. The Big Payoff: A $nal question, what would your advice be to someone trying to get better? Slam Bidding at Bridge Bill Treble I’ve watched a lot of bridge, I’ve always watched a lot of bridge. I used to Slam bidding is perhaps the most exciting part of bridge, come to the Nationals when I wasn’t playing that mu ch and so I would but at the same time it is the most technically challenging. have some lousy team. And I would just watch instead of playing in some The rewards for success are high, but so are the penalties for failure. As a launching pad, the author introduces some useful pair event I would watch the Spingold. I loved doing that, so I would sit agreements and conventions. After that, he addresses how behind Zia or somebody like that and watch how the best players played, to decide whether to try for slam, and how to investigate via cuebidding. More direct and advanced techniques, competitive and pay attention. auctions and a final quiz make up the remainder of the book. Studying this book will make for a smooth transition to becoming an effective slam bidder. AVAILABLE FROM A BRIDGE RETAILER NEAR YOU DISCUSSDISCUSS TODAY’S TODAY’S BRIDGE BRIDGE ISSUES ISSUES ON ON WWW.BRIDGEBLOGGING.COM WWW.BRIDGEBLOGGING.COM Page 77